Not on the map: cartographic omission from New England to Palestine | Petter Hellstr öm

An emotional debate has erupted over the absence of Palestine on Google Maps. But why does it matter whether Palestinians are on the map? Historian of science Petter Hellstr öm looks at maps of the colonial era for cluesThe issue caught fire afterthe Forum of Palestinian Journalists accused Google of removing Palestine from their maps. This, the organisation argued, made the tech giant complicit in Israeli policies of annexation and settlement of the occupied territories. Google responded that they had never labelled Palestine in the first place, whileblaming a technical bug for removing the labels for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. While many commentators pointed out the inflated nature of the claim, fewer have engaged with the long-term implications of cartographic omission.Because Palestine, after all, has been removed. It is there on old paper maps, of the Holy Land, of the Roman and Ottoman empires, of the British mandate. Yet in our digital age, asearch on Google Maps for Israel produces a map without Palestine. It displays Israeli urban centres down to a few thousand inhabitants, and even marks Ma ’ale Adumin, an Israeli settlement on the occupied West Bank. At the same time it shows no Palestinian place-names or urban centres, not even major ones like Gaza City, Khan Yunis or Nablus. The dotted, inconsistent borders of the occupied territories leave the impression that they are not claimed or administered by anyone.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Science History of science Google Maps Source Type: news